Prehistoric Archaeology in Wyoming

Chronology of Prehistoric Archaeology in Wyoming

• Paleo-Indian (12,000 to 8000 Years B.P.)

• Early Archaic (8000 to 5000 Years B.P.)

• Middle Archaic (5000 to 2000 Years B.P.)

• Late Archaic (2000 to 250 Years B.P.)

• Historic Period

Paleo-Indian Period

• cooler and wetter climate

• multiple lakes and large marshes

• retreating glaciers• massive flood events • ice-free corridor• coastal route

Paleo-Indian Period• Large projectile points

Clovis Folsom Agate Angostura Alberta Eden Scottsbluff Basin

Archaic (8000-250 Years Before Present)

• Warmer and drier• Extinction of Pleistocene Mega-Fauna • Atlatl and arrow points• Greater reliance on plants • More diverse artifact assemblage and features

– Gaming pieces, ceramics, adornment shells– Quarries and lithic work shops– Village sites, house pits, wickiups– Rock art

• Anadromous fish (weirs, hooks, net weights)• Burials much more common

Mummy cave - stratigraphy

House pit

Lithic scatter

Site location

Plains Culture

Paleo – E. archaic Wyoming Plains Cultural Area

• Large permanent village sites• Seasonal camps for hunting and gathering• River settlements• Bison-centric• Complex fishing technology• Canoes

Wyoming Tribes- Traditional Lands

Federally Recognized Tribes

Wyoming Specific• Northern Arapaho• Eastern Shoshone

Traditional Lands• Shoshone-Bannock• Northern Ute• Crow• Cheyenne

Plains Cultural Area

Arapaho Cheyenne Crow

• Algonquian and Siouan language group• Mobile hunter and gatherers• Small summer campsites (family units)• Large winter encampments• Resource areas

• Bison• Acorns and berries• Mountain game & fish• Lithics

Lithic scatter

Great Basin Cultural Area

Northern Ute Eastern Shoshone

• Mobile hunter and gatherers• Small summer campsites (family units)• Large winter encampments• Resource areas

• Rabbit• Bison• Mountain game & fish• Lithics

Historic Period• Contact with Europeans and their cultural

materials• Horse• Firearms• Steel • European Diseases• Written History/ Ethnographers• Lewis and Clark• Early Fur Trade

Lithic scatter

Lithic scatter

Devils Tower

ArapahoCheyenne

Crow

Kiowa

Lakota

Rock Art

•Pictographs•Petroglyphs

Rock Art – Shield

Rock Art – Shield

Natural Features of Cultural or Religious Significance